Gaines is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Brian R. Gaines, British systems scientist and engineer
Cassie Gaines (1948–1977), American singer; backup singer for Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and sister of fellow band member Steve Gaines (below)
Charles Gaines (fire chief), fire chief of Fort Worth, Texas
Charles Gaines, Pumping Iron, Stay Hungry
Chris Gaines (gridiron football) (born 1965), American football player
Clarence Gaines (1923–2005), American basketball coach
David Gaines (basketball), retired American professional basketball player
David Gaines (composer), musician and composer
David Gaines (race car driver), NASCAR Limited Sportsman Division race car driver
Edmund P. Gaines (1777–1849), United States Army officer, brother of George Strother Gaines
Ernest J. Gaines (born 1933), African American author
George Gaines (set decorator), Academy Award winner for Best Art Direction
George Strother Gaines (1784–1873), American leader in the Mississippi Territory, brother of Edmund P. Gaines
Jacques Gaines, Canadian singer, lead singer of Soul Attorneys
John P. Gaines (1795–1857), Governor of Oregan Territory
John W. Gaines (1860–1926), U.S. Congressman from Tennessee
Lloyd L. Gaines, (born 1911, disappeared 1939), pioneering American civil rights litigant
Max Gaines (died 1947), pioneering American comic book publisher, father of William Gaines
Randal Gaines (born 1955), American politician
Reece Gaines (born 1981), American professional basketball player
Richard Gaines (1904-1975), actor
Rowdy Gaines (born 1959), American swimmer
Roy Gaines (born 1934), American blues guitarist
Sheldon Gaines (born 1964), American football player
Steve Gaines (1949–1977), American musician, guitarist and songwriter for Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd
William Gaines (1922–1992), American publisher of EC Comics, founder of Mad magazine
William E. Gaines (1844-1912), United States Representative (Republican), Civil War veteran
William Gaines (professor), Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist and professor of journalism
Gaines A. Knapp (18448-1918), American politician
Chris Gaines, fictional alter ego of American country music singer Garth Brooks
